Porsche 996 Crash - Willow Springs raceway

My Dad's accident in his 996 race car, 5 broken vertebrae

[scottclark]

Firstly, thank you for all your good thoughts and wishes.


It's been 4 years almost to the day and I thought I'd revisit the video my son posted. Yep, it was driver error all the fault. My car seemed to accelerate through the hard-sandy run off. I braked hard, but never slowed down. I even looked down to see was I really pressing the brake? I looked up and there was the wall and hit hard.


My son cut out the rest of the video, but I was in excruciating pain. They extracted me from the car in a stretcher and I was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital. I laid in bed for 3 months to allow my back to heal. Turns out I broke 5 lumbar vertebrae (2 were compression breaks) as well as my left foot. Ironically, the left foot took the longest to heal. So now I'm about 1 inch shorter and will live in pain for the rest of my life. I believe the seat, which was very well bolted to the sub-floor, tore loose and the bracket broke, which caused the seat to move forward and put the downward pressure on my back.


Simply grading the run-off and making it soft sand along with a tire barrier are inexpensive fixes and would have made all the difference in the world. I went to the owner 2 years later and described my accident and suggested the changes, but he shrugged as if he's heard this story plenty of times before. I also suggested if the racers saw that he had a coherent plan, they would gladly pay a higher entrance fee to pay for it.


Stay safe!!

[jerryawesom]

Thanks for the wake-up call.  Big Willow is my home track.  Been off at 1, 3, 6 and 9. I run in a Miata so my top speed is 105.  My average speed around the track is 92 though.  I'm in the spine business.  What vertebrae were affected. thorasic or lumbar.  did they have to fuse many levels?  This is a serious injury either way.

[FHopeful]

Willow is dangerous. Has been since before 1970. Many folks have lost their lives there. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve raced there and I have always thought that turn two is arguably the most dangerous turn on the track, strongly challenged for that dubious honor by turn eight. So glad this turned out OK.

[howardz]

even with full roll cage and harness still hurt like that? OMG, hope your dad is ok

[elile]

Tbh, I am so glad the new owner of willow spring are taking over the place soon, hope they gonna make the willow great again. Good drive, good to know you healed from such a impacter.

[wakeupbreathing]

I went to one of my SCCA driver schools to get my race license at Willow….but that was 35 years ago. Still looks about the same.

[qikqbn]

Oh man, so sorry to see this happen!  Heart breaking. Hope you are ok.  cars can be replaced or fixed, but your well being is most important.  Hope you recover quickly and back to racing some day soon.  

[tjakal]

Holy shit. watched various Willow lap vids as research for a video game, observed the texture of the sides of the track. Didn't look at the title, my eyes went so wide. Vid did show me a lot more of the track sides than I had imagined, but five vertebrae, damn. Scary how that line looked so perfectly fine and innocent until the ride suddenly started oscillating.

[rickguerrero]

Came in too hot into Turn was convinced the wreck would be in the Widow Maker (Turn 9). I have seen a Porsche pancaked in Turn 2. Flipped on its top. Nice video. Glad he came out alive.

I was once told by a Porsche Club racer, "never bring a car to the track that you aren't willing to walk away from in a crumpled heap." It sorta sobered me up, especially after seeing a few thrashed expensive cars.

[jemje]

willow spring is probably the worst in facility. once a car is out of control, it is just too easy to roll and crash.

[jimdolen]

sorry to hear that I hope you heal quickly!

[vincentbagnato]

that was scary...those straights were pretty fast, and that track was so wide open... hope you are better! 

[cjf]

Never been there, probably don’t know what I’m talking about here- but why is there a giant berm acting as a brick wall, rather than a run-off of dirt or sand?

[KeYa-]

... man, i am very sorry for you. hopefully you feel better in the meantime!!!

[LuxMotion]

Fuck glad you’re okay. I was just there today in my c8. Makes me really question if this track is worth driving to the limit. So unforgiving

[RichJ_youtube]

Ouch. Is there any safety gear for the car that could have softened the blow to the driver's back?

[robertdietz]

damn scott, never knew this even happened. Not sure why there arent more tires around wsir.

[Chris]

I was curious, if he was wearing a neck restraint, and which one? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to share here. The seat coming loose is a big worry of mine for side impacts. I never considered the implications for a frontal impact. Hoping for quick healing for your dad.

[zooker]

Damn this track there might as well be a greased field right off of the pavement. Has anyone in America ever heard of gravel traps??? They make mistakes like these something you can live through. Maybe for tracks like these it would be advisable to have an ejection seat and parachute.

[cwang]

My first trackday was here. Someone brought their brand new Mitusbishi Evo that was very expensive and track built trailered there. Oversteered the last turn onto the straight and spun around and flipped a whole bunch of times landing upright in the infield. They left it there and the guy went to the hospital so for the rest of the track day, as you were coming to the final straight, the wrecked car was a reminder not to mess up. Remember seeing the video from inside the car on youtube